This is a special collection of mostly lesser-known
writers from the nineteenth century, all politically active, mostly
from the skilled working class.
They travelled not for pleasure or to write books, but to find work and
spread ideas.
These texts are generally shorter, drawn either from autobiographies or the
radical press, but give a clearer idea of how ordinary people travelled.
The pictures of the writers mostly show them in old age, but the journeys
were mostly made in their 20s and 30s.

Search the full text of the travel writing

If you are looking for mentions of particular places in Britain,
you will be better off searching using the main home page, as our travellers often
use very old-fashioned versions of place-names.
Use this form to find mentions of places outside Britain, locations that do not
fit our definition of "place", such as landed estates, or any other term you
are interested in.

Searching for "places" via the main home page will take you straight to the first
mention within the text, but this more general facility simply takes you to relevant
selections and you must then use your browser's search facility to find the actual
reference.

One particular "place" had to be treated differently: London.
We have excluded it from our marking-up of place names, because it
was constantly mentioned by travellers wherever they were; for
example, Boswell mentions London in every single chapter of his tour
of Highland Scotland.
Conversely, detailed descriptions of the metropolis seldom mention
"London", only districts within the city.
Follow these links to reach detailed accounts of London by
Defoe,
Fiennes and
Moritz.

We also excluded from our marking-up references to counties or
larger areas, and most geographical names when used to identify
particular people: the Earl of Salisbury, the Bishop of Winchester,
William of Malmesbury.

As far as possible, selections are the chapters in the original book
and each begins with a clickable map of the places mentioned.